The Power Ministry is working on plans to cut down the share of coal-fired thermal power generation capacity to 32 per cent in the next eight years from 52 per cent at present. The government’s focus is on leveraging policy measures to not only meet the growing electricity demand, but also to reduce the carbon footprint of the power sector.

The move is in line with the government’s COP26 pledge of achieving 500 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity based on non-fossil fuel by 2030, and also to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) sources in power generation to 50 per cent during the same period.

“As per projections of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the share of coal-based thermal power generation capacity in 2030 would be around 32 per cent in the energy mix,” Power Minister RK Singh said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

As of February, the coal-based generation capacity stood at around 204 GW out of total capacity of 396 GW. As per optimal generation capacity mix projections for 2029-30 by the CEA, the capacity would be about 267 GW in 2030 out of total projected capacity of 817 GW due to increase in non-fossil fuel based electricity generation capacity.

Tariff

The minister said retail consumer tariffs are determined by the respective State regulators keeping in view several prudent costs. With the increased large-scale integration of RE, the costs of renewable power have reduced considerably and the lowest discovered tariff for solar power has been ₹1.99 per unit.

The government has also issued a scheme of bundling renewable power with thermal and hydro projects. This will also reduce the overall cost of power for the consumers. The government is also extending grant assistance for construction of green energy corridors and for solarisation of agriculture feeders/pump sets under PM-KUSUM scheme,” Singh added.

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